Reviews with content warning for Death - The Things We Don't See

Simply put, Brown's writing is incredible; the story itself? Not so much. I really enjoyed Mona being the had-boiled detective character though. It was great to see a F/F relationship, but it felt a little sudden.

Content Warnings

sophiegs's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

dalmavatai's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Sadly, this book did not work for me at all. I had high hopes because I loved the author's previous book, The Truth About Keeping Secrets, and this book seemed to have everything I wanted: a podcast element, an isolated setting, an unsolved mystery on a small island, a complex protagonist with trauma in her own past, the amateur teen sleuth trope, AND a wlw romance!

However, the podcast element did not feature beyond the first 30 pages, and the rest just did not come together in a way that was satisfying to me. This book was extremely slow-paced, not much happened during the course of the investigation, and when something did, it wasn't particularly intriguing. The cast of characters wasn't dynamic enough to keep my interest, they were not especially well-developed or interesting. The setting also lacked development in my opinion.

The flowery writing, which worked for me in The Truth About Keeping Secrets, was very confusing this time. It was beautiful and lyrical a couple of times, but mostly it was just convoluted and did not succeed in explaining the characters' feelings. More often than not I was very confused by what was happening inside characters' minds and Mona's in particular because it felt like the author was trying way too hard to sound lyrical. Mona is supposed to go through some sort of growth in this story but the way it was written was so convoluted that I'm not entirely sure what the point of her growth was supposed to be. Peyton and Mona's interactions were equally incredibly confusing, it could've been a cute hate-to-love type of romance but so little was explained that you were ultimately left to figure out for yourself why they were behaving a particular way.

Convoluted writing and a lack of dynamic characters made this book a huge missed opportunity for me. Hopefully the author's next book will work for me again like her debut novel did.

Content Warnings

grace_lola14's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

though the story and the pacing was a little messy from time-to-time, i found that i barely even cared. the prose was delicious and, in fact, many of the flaws in the organisation of the novel (skipping between rushing through major plot points, half-dipping into characters and then abruptly dropping out, scraping the surface and never really reaching out beyond the confusing shroud of mona’s head) actually just further enhanced my experience and understanding of mona as a character. because of this, her trauma was so tangible that it truly left a print on me for a while after reading.

my only real wish was that peyton wasn’t left hanging so completely at the end, and that there was some sort of resolution or reconciliation of her relationship with mona

still, no one does YA like savannah brown

Content Warnings

ashyyy's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

It started out as a protagonist solving a mystery, but quickly turned into grieving loss and self identity. I found reading Mona's perspective to be comfortable, even though she was not likeable for 80% of the book. I found Peyton and Liam to be surface level characters, kind of wish more had happened with Peyton.
At first, I thought the climax would make me frustrated,

what with it not actually being the reveal of the mystery, but Mona's self realisation instead. However, I think that's kind of the point, that she went looking to solve Roxy's problem, but found more about herself instead. I also like that Roxy wasn't a humble person, that she had become bitter as years passed.

Content Warnings

questingnotcoasting's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

amandaclaire's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Overall, I liked this most as an exploration of trauma, loss, and identity rather than a straight up thriller novel. I was more invested in the dynamic between Mona and Celeste than the disappearance of Roxy Raines. I think this was in part because I wanted the mystery to be a little harder to crack, and for the characters implicated in the disappearance to feel more involved throughout the investigation. For me, the standout element of this book is the writing — sharp, acerbic, and much more experimental than Brown's debut novel. Excites me for what might come next!

Content Warnings

More...